The noren, the split curtain that tells you a Japanese shop is open

Walk a shopping street in Kyoto or old Tokyo before eleven and many doorways stand bare. By noon a length of dyed cloth hangs across them, split into panels and printed with a name or a single character. This is the noren (暖簾), and it is the most reliable opening sign in Japan.

What the cloth is saying

Noren go out at opening and come in at closing. The phrase noren o dasu (暖簾を出す), to put out the noren, simply means to open for the day. A door with the cloth up is open, even when it is slid shut against the cold. A door without it is usually closed, whatever the posted hours suggest.

How to pass through one

Part the split panels with one hand and duck slightly as you step in. The verb for this is kuguru (くぐる), to pass beneath. The cloth falls back on its own, so there is no need to hold it for the person behind you. Do not grab a panel for balance or dry your hands on it. Many are hand-dyed, and some have hung over the same door for years.

Colours at the bathhouse

At a sento or onsen, noren do the work of signage. The hiragana ゆ (yu, hot water) over an entrance marks a bath. Inside, 男 (otoko) usually hangs in indigo for men and 女 (onna) in red for women. Read the character, not the colour. Some inns swap the curtains between baths on alternate days so guests can try both.

A name worth handing on

When a trusted apprentice is allowed to open a shop under the master's name, the arrangement is called noren-wake (暖簾分け), dividing the noren. The term still appears in the histories of soba and sweet shops whose branches trace back to one original counter.

暖簾が出ていれば、店は開いている。